Removable or stowable soft tonneau covers for pickup vehicles are known in the art. These tonneau covers provide access to the cargo bed when the cover is manually at least partially removed, or, provided protection from the elements when the cover is on/deployed.
Currently, tonneau covers have a rail that must be mounted down each side of the pickup box to give the fabric a place to attach and seal out the elements. These side rails also act as a locator, aligning the bows of the top cover as it is installed and provide a way to tension the top cover fabric. Having to install these rails leads to additional height on the vehicle, a non-cohesive look, and addition weight/complexity in the top.
There are other tonneau systems that are labeled as “low profile” to help fight the height and non-cohesive look. However, these covers still use an additional rail to mount the cover to the pickup bed and gain fabric tension, resulting in the low profile design having a different geometry, but without eliminating all of the problems of a conventional tonneau cover.
Therefore, there remains a need for a tonneau cover with a tensioning system that eliminates the need for side rails.